Hello everyone [TANKS]

["Milenko" <milenko-at-king-nerd.com>]

Hi all,

 

    I'm new to the tank building world, but I've already got a plan in my head for what I want to do.  I'm planning on building a 1/6 or 1/7th scale Abrams.  I have a scale model from Tamiya that I'll be using to help me measure things out.  I'm in Eastern PA, so I'm hoping that once I get my tank built that I can make it to a MAG event or two.

 

    My question is about the motors and speed controller.  I plan on using EV Warriors or something similar running at 24V.  This tank in 1/6th scale will be quite large (~4.5 ft) and I think that it'll take lots of power to make it go.  I don't think I'd be happy with it at 12V, so I'm just gonna jump right in at 24V.  :)  Anyway, I think the speed controller from Anvilus would work well for me.  It does proportional control, which I think is very important, especially when running at 24V.  I plan on using offboard SSRs to do proportional speed control, but I'm worried about the current draw of the EVs at 24V.  Most of the specs I've read put the continous draw at around 100A and stall at around 200A.  Is this anywhere close to accurate?  That's a lot of amps for any speed controller, and I'm concerned that even with enough offboard SSRs in parallel to handle the amperage that the board itself might not be able to handle it.

 

    Has anyone used an Anvilus speed controller with 24V EVs?  If so, how did it work out for you?  Also, does anyone have any real-world data on what kind of amperage the EVs pull at 24V?

 

    I was also looking at the Sidewinder from robotpower.com.  It does everything I want my speed controller to do, but it's weighs in at a hefty $350.  Does anyone know of any similar speed controllers that are priced a little lower?  I'm not afraid to put something together myself if need be.

 

Thanks for any info,

 

Jeremy Adams